Review: Eos by Audio Damage

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What makes a reverb effect stand out from the crowd? Gary Hiebner loads up the Eos by Audio Damage to find out.

I am a big fan of the Audio Damage plugins. Their GUIs are intuitive and easy to grasp and at the same time produce amazing results. Sure, there are many reverb plugins out there in the audio marketplace, but Audio Damage’s Eos is a bit special. Audio Damage is a creative company when it comes to plugin design, and they have carried their ethos into this reverb plugin.

Eos is an amazing and simple reverb plugin. It consists of three reverb algorithms: two plate reverbs and one hall reverb. The plate reverbs are designed to emulate classic 70s digital plate reverbs. Plate One is a mono in, stereo out; Plate Two is a stereo in and out plate reverb. But my favorite is the Superhall, which emulates the digital hall reverbs associated with the 80s.

The Superhall algorithm can create luscious long reverbs that are great for ambient pieces, or to create abstract interest in your projects. I will show you how using this as an insert or bus effect and coupled with some automation, one can bring out interesting layers and washes of big hall reverb to your sound sources. But first, let's take a trip through the GUI.

Step 1 – Getting To Know The GUI

Eos comes equipped with Pre-Delay, Size and Decay controls to sculpt the reverberated sound. Below these are the Attack, Rate, Diffusion and Depth controls for further reverb sound manipulation. The Attack can introduce a fade-in effect on the reverb, whilst the diffusion can produce a softening effect on the tail or reflections of the reverb. The Rate and Depth controls introduce modulation effects to the reverb, to produce crazier special reverb effects if desired.

Next to this is a Filter section, which is great for filtering out the frequency areas you wish not to include in the reverberated sound. For example: rolling off the low-end, which can take up unnecessary headroom in the mix. The low mult, and hi mult section allow you to control the decays of each band in relation to the mid-range.

And finally there is the Mix control to dial in the ratio of dry to wet levels of the reverb. The Infinite knob acts as a Freeze/Hold function, which is great for long drawn out ambient sounds. It really comes into its own when the controls are automated.

The Eos Interface

Step 2 – Using it as an Insert or Auxiliary Effect

Eos really comes alive when you begin to automate the mix/send levels to the reverb on this effect. I can’t count how many times I have added this plugin to my projects. It always helps bring out some elements and lets them sparkle. When you add this reverb to your projects you really do notice it.

Here are my dry drums sound before I apply the Eos reverb to it:

You can use it either as an insert effect or send effect. I have created an auxiliary channel in Logic and have added Eos into the auxiliary channel. I have set the Mix to its maximum on the auxiliary channel. Next, on my drums channels, I bus the channels to the Eos send channel. I will use the bus send level to dial in the amount of Eos reverb I need.

Step 3 – Automate the Mix

First I have worked with my Hats channel. I have automated the amount that is sent to the Eos Aux channel so that you can hear the effect it has on the Hats.

I have done the same with my Snare: the Eos reverb really brings out the snap in the snare and allows it to ring out.

Here is the drums sound with the included reverb automated sounds on the Hats and Snare. Compare this to the original dry drum sound.

Automated Send Level.

Step 4 – In The Context of a Song

Here is a song I have been working on. It includes an FM8 Synth, an ES2 Bass, an ES1 Pad synth, and the Drum sound I worked with previously. I have also automated some sections of reverb on the FM8 Instrument, and an ES1 Pad sound.

Eos works wonders on synths sounds. It can take dull sounding synths and turn them into enormous sounds that wash all over your sound canvas.

Take a listen to the FM8 with the reverb send automated:

Automated Send Level.

Now let’s blend all the elements together so you can hear what they sound like in a context of a song. Listen how the FM8 tails off in the end. This plugin is really great in creating ambience.

Conclusion

Despite its simple interface the Eos can produce some big, interesting reverberated sounds. I would definitely recommend using it in some of your future projects. Hop over to http://www.audiodamage.com/ and take a look at some of their other plugins as well.

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Gary Hiebner

Gary Hiebner is an enthusiastic South African Sound Designer and Apple Tech Head! Gary has been involved in the South African music industry for the decade, and in this time has also been involved in the sound design and music production for many advertising agencies and media houses. Gary is a devoted Logic and Ableton user, but he al... Read More